Rewind With A Superstar System

Chapter 215: Julian’s Ultimatum

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Only Time by Enya>

...

{Oops, I ate this one. So we’ll use another fish for that one.}

Inside Von’s hotel room, the television played the recorded broadcast of The Evening Scoop.

Zack and Emily were sitting on the couch, both of them biting their lips and clutching their stomachs as they fought with everything they had to control their laughter.

Sitting in the single armchair across from them, Von just held an awkward silence.

He rubbed his temples with his fingers, completely mortified as he imagined what else Loki had done to his image while he was busy spying at the movie theater.

What made the situation even more stressful was that the troublesome cat was nowhere to be found.

She had probably wandered off to the cinema halls to consume people’s emotions, Von didn’t know.

He only hoped she was currently walking around in her normal cat form, lest she would spell even more trouble for him by doing something weird in public as Von.

"Wow, I never knew you were this interesting, Von," Zack said, finally letting out a loud chuckle. He turned to look at Emily. "Did he always like fish that way? Because he just swallowed that thing like a pelican."

"Seriously, I’m just seeing this side of him today," Emily laughed while shaking her head in disbelief.

"I’m as surprised as you are! I mean, who asks a primetime television host for food?"

Von couldn’t exactly expose that the person on the screen was a shapeshifting cat and not him, so he had to quickly come up with an excuse. He avoided their eyes.

"Don’t blame me. I was just feeling different today... I can get like that, sometimes. You know..."

Luckily for him, Zack and Emily didn’t doubt his words for long. To be fair, swallowing a fish whole was probably the least strange thing they had seen from Von, and they were already getting used to his unique eccentricities.

"Well, on the bright side, your popularity keeps rising,"

Emily announced with a proud, bright smile.

"This interview did you a lot of positive PR. Especially when you saved Arthur’s life. Everyone on the internet is talking about that."

"I won’t even ask you how your reflexes were that fast to anticipate the lights falling. It’s causing a lot of conspiracy theories online. Some people even think you’re the Batman of our world."

Even though Zack’s joke sounded ridiculous, considering everything Von had pulled off lately, Zack secretly wouldn’t be completely surprised to hear his best friend was really a superhero who operated at night.

’Catman would have been more fitting,’ Von thought with an internal sigh, glad that his secret was safe. He decided it was best to quickly change the topic.

"So, how was the premiere?"

Emily’s smile brightened even further as she heard that question. She clearly had a lot to say.

"Well, about that..." Emily started with satisfaction. "The movie itself was visually stunning, but Julian’s acting? Oh, Von, it was a complete trainwreck. Just wait until you see the reviews tomorrow morning. I think we have a real shot if ours is good."

***

{Blood Money: A Visual Masterpiece Dragged Down By A Hollow Core}

{Director Giggs Rakinjer truly delivered on the tension. The world-building is superb, the background score is chilling, and it is obvious how the lockdown bubble filming made the movie’s isolation feel incredibly real. But the major flaw lies directly in the acting. Julian West disappoints heavily as the male lead. He looks the part of a starved, desperate man, but his delivery is entirely forced. It is a visually beautiful movie that unfortunately forgot to give its protagonist a soul.}

— Kamron Gibbs, The Toronto Daily.

{A High-Budget Lesson in Casting}

{Blood Money proves exactly why a newbie actor cannot simply be thrown in as the lead character in such a high-budget, heavy-hitting movie.

The main cast was painfully mediocre. Julian West relied entirely on yelling to convey emotion, breaking the immersion in almost every dialogue scene. However, the plot is undeniably gripping, and the action sequences completely fill the gaps left by the actors. It is a movie I would still recommend for a weekend watch, despite the tragic casting choices.}

— Sarah Jenkins, Cinema Weekly.

{Sammy Howkins Deserved A Better Rival}

{If there is one saving grace in the acting department, it is Sammy Howkins. He brings a stable, quiet menace to his role as the contract killer, though he didn’t provide the best performance. He carries the scenes, but even a veteran like Howkins can’t save the dynamic when his co-star gives nothing back. A solid thriller that misses the mark of greatness.}

Julian was scrolling through his phone in his hotel room. And as he read the reviews that had dropped for Blood Money, his face immediately went pale.

His hands were visibly shaking. Most of the top reviews were all attacking the exact same point: his acting.

He didn’t understand it. He had genuinely given it his all with this project! He had starved himself, shaved his head, and isolated himself for months just to prepare for this role. How could they call him hollow?

Panic began to set in. Julian wasn’t just upset about his pride; he was terrified of his father.

Rayan West was a ruthless man who didn’t tolerate failure. He had personally brought Julian in to give him this opportunity.

It was a test to see how capable his son was of carrying the family legacy. But now, Julian was being turned into an industry laughingstock.

Desperate for a distraction, Julian decided to check the general trending news on X, praying that the internet wasn’t picking him apart too badly.

But as the timeline refreshed, all he saw was Von Varley.

{Lightning Reflexes: How did Von Varley save Arthur Pendleton’s life at The Evening Scoop?}

{"All I Want Is Fish" - Everything that went on in the craziest interview of the year when Arthur Pendleton met Von Varley!}

{Rising Star Von Varley can’t play Aiden! Book Club President Amanda in an exclusive interview.}

"Argh!" Julian gritted his teeth, his blood boiling seeing his feed flooded with Von’s face yet again.

In a fit of sheer rage, he threw his phone violently across the room. Thankfully, it bounced safely on the soft mattress.

"Why does that cunt have to ruin my life every damn time?!" Julian screamed at the empty room. "What is the deal with him?!"

He was feeling incredibly angry. Even the brutal critic reviews of his own movie had become an afterthought because the entire world was currently obsessing over Von eating a stupid fish on live television. Von wasn’t even trying, yet he was winning.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.

The phone resting on the bed was now ringing loudly. Julian slowly crawled over to the device and looked at the caller ID.

It was his father.

Julian swallowed the dry lump in his throat. His hands trembled as he swiped to answer the call, slowly bringing the phone to his ear.

"H-Hello? Dad?" Julian spoke.

"Shut your mouth and listen to me very carefully, boy," Rayan West’s voice echoed through the speaker.

There was no fatherly warmth, only cold, hard disappointment.

"I bought you a hundred-million-dollar playground, Julian," Rayan growled. "I handed you an A-list co-star, a veteran director, and a golden script. And I wake up this morning to find out my son is the laughingstock of the Toronto Film Festival because he can’t act his way out of a paper bag."

"Dad, I swear I tried!" Julian stammered, his eyes welling up with panicked tears. "The director didn’t guide me right, and the script—"

"I said shut up!" Rayan barked, the sheer tone of his voice making Julian flinch back.

"I don’t want your pathetic excuses. I don’t care about the critics, and I don’t care about your feelings. You know exactly what our deal was."

Julian went completely silent.

"I am giving you one last ultimatum," Rayan said, his tone now dropping to a dangerous, icy whisper.

"You are going to win the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award. You will beat that Varley kid, and you will bring that trophy home to fix this embarrassment. If you don’t..."

Rayan paused, letting the silence hang heavy in the air.

"If you don’t, I am cutting you off. No more penthouses. No more cars. No more trust funds. You will have no ties to my name, and you will be left on the streets to fend for yourself like the talentless nobody the critics think you are. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Julian whispered, a single tear slipping down his cheek.

The line went dead, and Julian collapsed on the bed in anger.

Winning the Breakthrough Artist award now felt like an almost impossible task for Julian, especially with the reviews that were calling him out.

True, he still got praise from a few critics, and some didn’t mention his acting at all, but him actually winning the award was a huge stretch.

And then there was Von, who was already enjoying the entire attention without even trying.

’He’s my main obstacle. If I can get rid of him, it might be possible,’ Julian thought. An evil grin spread across his face as he picked up his phone to dial a number.